I recently bought a 3D printer, because I’m a gun enthusiast. Thus I am interestest in anything to help my gun hobby out. I wanted to get into 3D printing to help me save money on gun stuff, and because I love new tools. Turns out 3D printing is another hobby.
Honestly, I bought the printer thinking just like reloading ammo it was going to save me money. I should have known better. I figured it was just a tool that I could use to build things. Boy was I wrong. 3D printing is an add-on hobby for the gun lover. I call it a hobby because honestly when you add all the time you spend and the money you spend doing it. You may never save a dime. Thus it’s a hobby.
Starting Out
Before I bought a printer a did some research trying to find the best 3D printer I could for the best price. Since I was new to this I wasn’t ready to spend thousands on a printer. Especially if I didn’t like printing or I couldn’t figure it out. After far less research than I should have done. I settled on an Ender 3.
Don’t get me wrong I love my printer. However, it was not designed to print the materials I would need to print a rifle lower and feel comfortable shooting it. It was build to print PLA, ABS, and PETG. It upgraded to print carbon loaded nylons, polycarbonates and other materials better suited for gun parts. Upgrades are all part of the hobby.
First Few Prints
Once I got my printer I spent less than an hour to set it up. Then I tried printing something. I don’t even remember what it was. I know it didn’t print as it should. However, I was so excited to print something I really didn’t follow any instructions. I just tried to figure it out as I went. This was a bad idea. Don’t do this. I spent lots of time trying to go back and figure out what I did wrong and why it didn’t work. What I should have done is learned how to do it right the first time.
I ended up printing a bunch of “upgrades” for my printer before I ever printed anything for myself. Honestly, I spend a lot of time looking at Thingiverse trying to find things I wanted to print while I waited for prints to finish. It’s interesting just how long it takes to print something. Many prints take well over 20 hours to print. Not to mention all the time when you start printing just to have the print fail. It looks like it’s going to print perfectly, then you walk away for a few hours and come back to a mess of plastic all over your print bed. You defiantly have to call it a hobby otherwise you’d quit before you ever truly got started.
Printing Gun Stuff
After weeks of printing things and messing around trying to figure out how my printer worked. I started looking into what I could print that was gun-related. It turns out that even though there are those who have printed lower receivers from the materials my printer uses. I wasn’t comfortable spending the money to build a gun that at the case won’t last more than a few 100 rounds without issues. Not to say I won’t try eventually but right now my skills and my printer aren’t up to the task.
So what did I do instead? I printed a practice/training rifle for Appleseed and teaching Rifle Merit Badge. This, of course, was my first major 3D printing project. Which after spending a lot of time looking for the files online. Then altering the files and printing them, then printing them again to get them looking right.
I eventually built a nice Ruger 10/22 replica rifle with a laser build into the receiver that is trigger activated. I did have to design the trigger and of course design a holder for the laser. This was a lot of fun. Having never messed with any 3D CAD programs or Blender, it was a steep learning curve. Just to get started with 3D design. Of course, just like any hobby, its fun. Which is why I did it.
More Projects
After spending a few weeks perfecting my training rifle. I needed to find a new project. To which I printed a few various non-gun related things. However, I ended up finding a rifle stock to go with my Ruger 10/22 so I could avoid buying the perfect stock. This project turned out to more than I planned. As it was the first time I’d printed with PLA. Up until then, I’d only printed with PETG. While most people start out printing with PLA because it’s supposedly easier to print with. I started with PETG because I knew I was going to use PETG.
The rifle stock I found on Thingiverse took me over a whole roll of filament, and over a week to print. It was split into 4 pieces that needed to be glued together. While in theory, you print it perfectly, then match up for a tight fit, with no need to sand or fit it. In reality, I had to sand the pieced to get them to fit right. Not to mention I needed to open up the inside of the receiver to get my rifle to fit. Plus I had to use filler to smooth out the gaps where the print warped slightly on the bed and didn’t match up perfectly. After a lot of sanding, and priming the rifle stock came out looking really nice.
The best part of using this stock is that free-floated my barrel. This improved my ordinary Appleseed rifle. It turned into a rifle that was shooting 1/2″ groups at 25 yards. I know those who understand MOA won’t find that very impressive. However, with cheap ammo and a bench rest, this rifle normally shoots 3/4″ groups or worse at that distance. This means for less than $40 total, excluding my time, I gained 1 MOA of accuracy in an otherwise stock barreled gun. Most people spend 3 times that or more to gain even 1/2 and MOA of accuracy.
My Future In 3D Printing
As with any hobby, it’s all a matter of what you do with it. 3D printing will be no different for me. There will be upgrades to my printer in the future. Maybe even the purchase of a better printer. I want to print more gun-related stuff. I don’t know if I’ll print a gun receiver, but I know it will be cool to shoot a gun I truly built myself. It will be even better for me to design customization for an AR-15 lower or other printed gun parts. However, this is all part of the hobby of 3D printing for a gun enthusiast.